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Monday, July 10, 2006

Just down Federal Twist Road is a community of Cimicifuga racemosa . I first saw it last summer, but this year it appears to have grown to over 20 well sized plants. They're at the front of a property someone is building on, but construction has been stopped for almost a year, and the new house is several hundred feet back. I'm hoping the plants will remain undisturbed.

Compared to the yellow green of the blackberry foliage in the picture below, the cimicifuga appears quite dark. Is this a natural genetic variation?

(I know it's been renamed Actea, but I haven't made that adjustment yet.)

About Me

When we moved to a mid-century house overlooking the woods in western New Jersey, I knew the garden would have to be naturalistic and informal to suit the style of the house and the place. My new garden on Federal Twist Road is an experiment. I call it a wet prairie, and maintain it like a prairie, with annual cutting and burning. The site would appear to be an inauspicious one for a garden, with heavy wet clay saturated much of the year. I cut down trees to create a clearing in the woods, and planted many native and prairie plants, all carefully selected for suitability to the difficult growing conditions. Many non-natives too, if they liked wet clay. Most of these plants are highly competitive, even aggressive, and I try to match them so they keep each other in control. Then I stand aside, and intervene only when necessary.